Posts Tagged ‘bulbs’

Welcome to my blog, gardeners. I am going to take you through the gardening year, week by week. Ok, so this is the third week in February, so we will have to do a little catch up. I will do first, second & third week in Feb now and get up to date! Your comments and feedback are appreciated.

February First Week

Polytunnel & greenhouse owners can get their early potatoes, early carrots & strawberries in now. Some garlic bulbs can also be planted in the greenhouse. Sow some parsley seed also.

If the ground outdoors is nice & dry, you can start preparing for onions & outdoor veg

Start off some beans in deep pots or root trainers and keep indoors in greenhouse or cold frames. Good compost is necessary eg. John Innes no 1 or 2

Fruit tree (Apples, figs) pruning should be completed this week or next week.

Prune gooseberries.

Cut autumn fruiting raspberries back down to approx 300mm (1′) from the ground

New hedges are available ‘bare rooted’ until mid March. Much cheaper than potted. If frost & snow has devastated your Escallonia & Griseliniea hedges, you probably need to replace them with ‘frost hardy’ hedges eg, Beech, Hornbeam, Laurel, Hawthorn etc. There has been a huge tendancy in the past 15 years to plant non frost hardy plants in inland cold districts. Winters are back to stay, so suit the plants to your garden location.

Do not be tempted to cut lawns on a lovely sunny February “pet” day, if the ground conditions are very wet. Compaction will occur. Stay off lawns in frosty weather also as damage to the grass will occur. The lawn cutting will start soon enough so take it easy for another few weeks!

Visit a good garden centre (that actually has plants in stock!) Very important to visit garden centres every month to see whats looking good. That way, you will have a good spread of seasonal colour & interest in your garden.

Bulbs available now for Lilliums and Begonias. Lovely for pots for summer colour. Get some & get them started in a greenhouse or conservatory. They will come back every year if you protect them for the winter!

Rhubarb stools available now also. You could plant one or two through the shrubbery. They look fantastic as an ornamental plant and taste yummy in a Rhubarb tart. Snails love them too!

Plan what you are going to sow in the kitchen garden and start organising your seed. Dont bother sowing stuff you dont like to eat.. you would be surprised at how many people plant beetroot automatically but never actually harvest it.

Check out GIY and join. Great meeting for people growing their own food, learners and well seasoned growers.